This Week In Techdirt History: January 29th – February 4th

Five Years Ago

This week in 2018, while Theresa May was repeating her demands that tech companies control more speech on social media, we hosted a series of posts about content moderation surrounding an event at Santa Clara University, with essays by Eric Goldman, Mike Godwin, Kate Klonick, and more. A UK appeals court said the GCHQ's mass collection of internet communications was illegal, US senators were demanding an investigation into the intelligence community's refusal to implement whistleblower protections, and ICE finally got its long-sought-after nationwide license plate database. Apple and Verizon were continuing to lobby against right to repair laws, California's net neutrality law took another step forward, and the FCC Broadband Advisory Panel" faced accusations of (surprise, surprise) cronyism. Meanwhile, the NFL was playing its usual game of abusing trademark law around the Super Bowl.

Ten Years Ago

Never to be outdone by the NFL, this week in 2013 the International Olympic Committee was getting an early start on trademarking everything including the number 2014". We looked at the legal situation for unlocking phones following the removal of the DMCA exemption, a copyright spat over the show Glee exposed some of the ridiculousness of copyright law, and (in what now seems mundane, but was surprising news at the time) Netflix released all 13 episodes of a TV show... at the same time! Meanwhile, the Prenda saga continued (and continued, and continued).

Fifteen Years Ago

Don't count the NFL out of the trademark stupidity fight, though! This week in 2008, the New England Patriots applied for a trademark on 19-0" to represent an undefeated season, while the league was back to ishutting down Super Bowl parties for having screens that are too big. The RIAA was failing to explain why copyright damages should be higher, while one judge was very unimpressed with their lawsuit bundling strategy. Swedish prosecutors, after much anticipation, finally filed charges against The Pirate Bay, while Swiss officials turned their attention to the illegal tactics of an anti-piracy company. And a UK court followed the US's footsteps by deciding to allow software patents.